Francis Finlaison was born on 1 January 1906 and educated at Charterhouse, Clare College, Cambridge and St Thomas's Hospital. After qualification in 1930 he held several resident posts at St Thomas's Hospital and then became chief assistant to the obstetrical department at the same hospital. Finl

Margaret Moore White was born in Derby on 5 February 1902, the daughter of Henry Thomas White, a civil engineer and his wife Adriana, née McBean. Her early education was at Belmont School, Derby, but when she was 13 years old the family moved to London and until the age of 17 she went to the Tremart